Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government has taken to regulate unsolicited emails offering free online gambling opportunities.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 are clear that organisations may only send marketing emails to individuals if the individual has agreed to receive them, or where there is a clearly defined customer relationship and the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing the use of their contact details for the purposes of such marketing.

The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds the rules and regulations governing unsolicited emails, and offers advice to consumers on reporting abuses. The Gambling Commission has been working with the Information Commissioner’s Office to raise awareness of the rules across the gambling industry.